Public utilities: gas corporations: gas plants: new construction or substantial modification.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing law prohibits a gas corporation from constructing a gas plant, as defined, or an extension of a gas plant without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires or will require that construction. This bill would authorize the commission, in issuing a certificate for the construction of a new gas plant or a substantial modification of an existing gas plant, to take into consideration the need for the new gas plant or substantially modified gas plant as it relates to the provision of safe, reliable, and affordable electrical or gas service and the environmental impacts of the new or substantially modified gas plant, including impacts on surrounding communities.